This invention relates to computer systems, and more particularly to a system for gathering data from a server, and storing and processing the data on the client.
With the rise of the Internet and the World-Wide-Web in modern society, many businesses are now taking their transactional business on-line. These businesses are engaging in business to business (“B2B”) on-line transactions with other businesses. B2B refers to a wide variety of information exchanges between different independent organizations. For example, B2B can imply transfer of patient records from one hospital to another, or transfer of pricing data to an independent distributor's point of sales system. B2B can also refer to the transfer of sensitive information, such as financial records between different banks.
The term B2B is often used ambiguously. For example, it is not appropriate to refer to B2B in the context of the internal workings of a company. Although internal workflow within an organization may be similar to a B2B system, transactions within the same organizations are easy to direct, since a governing authority can establish policies and protocols. In contrast, B2B systems have no “boss” that can mandate how transactions occur.
Also, B2B is distinctly different from Business to Consumer (“B2C”) exchanges. Although both B2B and B2C share common aspects, B2B is motivated primarily by profitability and competitiveness, whereas B2C includes aspects such as glamour and mass appeal. B2B requires a high degree of standardization, while B2C does not.
The problem associated with B2B is clearly illustrated by electronic purchasing of products by companies. This “e-commerce” model of B2B embodies many of the problems and pitfalls associated with B2B in general. In an e-commerce scenario, a business (the “buyer”) purchases items from another business (the “supplier”). The information interchange needed to accomplish an e-commerce transaction includes exchange of electronic product catalogs, generation of purchase orders, and confirmation of product delivery.
Consider an exemplary situation where a large organization wishes to make frequent periodic purchases of products. The products are offered from a variety of vendors, all of which are roughly equivalent. Products are distinguished mainly by the price and delivery schedule of each supplier. To make things complicated, the number of suppliers can be large, and the price and delivery times for products can fluctuate.
This situation is exemplified by many real world organizations, such as State and Federal government agencies, and corporations that use competitive buying practices. In the past, this type of purchasing has required laborious combing of vendor catalogs. Even with diligence, such a system often misses the best price and delivery, and encounters discontinued or sold-out products. It is difficult to keep the list of vendors and products up to date.
B2B e-commerce attempts to correct these deficiencies by using machine-readable electronic product catalogs. These electronic catalogs provide real-time information to e-commerce buying programs. This allows product information such as part numbers, product descriptions, and pricing to be available and automatically updated by suppliers.
The formats of the purchase order and product catalog are potential trouble spots for B2B systems. In most cases, the buyer will require the supplier to present its electronic product catalog in a format that can be used by the buyer's client software. This is important when there is more than one supplier, because the client program must compare pricing, delivery, and other parameters between the various suppliers. Also, the buyer will require that the supplier recognizes, and correctly process, purchase orders generated by the buyer's client program. Thus, the overriding difficulty of implementing the B2B e-commerce system is the issue of product catalog and purchase order compatibility. Specifically, the problem lies in obtaining consensus of format and protocol among many dissimilar and autonomous organizations.
It is not workable to impose standards on the B2B process (such as standard catalogs and purchase orders) that radically affect the internal workings of participating organizations. B2B e-commerce systems will work only if they can be inexpensively layered upon the private policies of a company. Any B2B system that attempts to make drastic changes in the internal workings of the organization runs a high risk of being rejected for the simple reason that participants view their carefully crafted internal systems as part of their “competitive edge.” Furthermore, although buyers may want e-commerce, suppliers will resist it in the absence of any mandating authority until the cost of e-commerce is compensatory.